Hawaii's tourism industry will not do as well as it had originally expected, but it still is on pace to do better than 2013, Hawaii Tourism Authority officials said this week.

During an address at the 2014 Hawaii Tourism Conference at the Hawaii Convention Center on Thursday, David Uchiyama, vice president, brand management of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, said HTA had originally targeted 8,443,500 total visitor arrivals for 2014 but has revised the number to 8,250,937, a 0.9 percent increase from 2013.

The HTA also released a first look at 2015. The HTA projects 8,411,300 total arrivals in 2015, which would be a 1.9 percent increase from 2014. For 2015, HTA is targeting a 9.15-day average length of stay, per-person per-day spending of $196.47, and total expenditures of $15.1 billion.

Some markets are faring better than others, with the mainland faring well but international markets like Japan and China not performing as well due to a number of factors.

For the U.S. West market, HTA’s revised projection for total expenditures in 2014 is $4.9 billion, up from an initial projection of $4.84 billion. It expects more growth in 2015 with a target of $5.06 billion in total expenditures. However, arrivals will be lower than expected and lower than last year. It had projected 3,219,600 in total visitor arrivals in 2014, but is now projecting 3,170,160, a 1.3 percent decrease from 2013. HTA forecasts 3,205,030 total visitor arrivals in 2015.

For the U.S. East market, HTA raised its original 2014 projection of total expenditures to $3.65 billion, a 3 percent increase from 2013. It is targeting $3.7 billion in expenditures in 2015, a 1.5 percent increase from the year before. Visitor arrivals from the region are projected to rise to 1,713,540, a 0.7 percent increase. HTA is targeting 1,722,110 visitor arrivals in 2015, a 0.5 percent increase from the previous year. Uchiyama said there is a need for flights from Chicago and Minneapolis, but the airlines’ yields will be a concern.

HTA was optimistic with the Japan market, but after the first half of the year, it has revised its 2014 target to $2.45 billion in total expenditures, a 1.6 percent fall from 2013. It had originally forcasted for $2.74 billion in total expenditures for 2014. For 2015, it forecasts $2.53 billion in total expenditures. HTA will still see growth in visitor arrivals, projecting 1,548,700 arrivals in 2014, a 2 percent increase from 2013, and 1,568,830 in 2015, a 1.3 percent increase. Uchiyama said HTA thinks the Japan economy has stabilized. It hopes its visitors will be able to go to more Neighbor Islands, and is hopeful Island Air can help with the connecting flights.

While the China market is expected to grow, HTA has tampered it expectations. Total expenditures for 2014 have been revised to $385.1 million, a 26.3 percent increase from 2013, but much lower than the original projection of $452.1 million. HTA is targeting total expenditures from China to be $432.9 million in 2015. Total arrivals from China in 2014 have been revised to 152,650, a 22.1 percent increase from 2013 but down from its original projection of 182,100. HTA expects 170,000 visitors for 2015, an increase of 11.4 percent.

HTA also projected fewer visitors from Latin America due to the World Cup. It had originally projected 40,000 visitors in 2014 but has revised its projection to 27,060. HTA hopes new-generation aircraft could come help build create direct flights to the region.

HTA also released new numbers on total accommodations after identifying IVUs, or individual vacation units. It had originally counted only 6,943 IVUs in the state, but after identifying IVUs it found 26,593.

In his presentation at the Hawaii Tourism Conference 2014, Uchiyama said request for proposals were or will be released for a contractor to market in Korea, Latin America, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. RFPs were or also will be released for a social media contractor in Asia and Mahina Mele (Hawaiian Music Month).

Uchiyama said other products included rugby and youth volleyball, and called out the Retail Merchants of Hawaii to create an event for the shoulder season.